Five things I learnt on a PRCA training course Melissa Sidnell

As members of the PRCA, the team at Flame PR can take full advantage of the industry knowledge which is on offer. Here are some lessons learned:

1. ‘It’s not the strongest animal that survives, it’s the most adaptable’It is no surprise that the media landscape is constantly changing, in line with the habits of readers and audiences who now access media predominantly on their smartphones. But what opportunities does this changing media landscape create? Smartphones necessiate different forms of media, putting increased pressure on journalists to provide video, audio and infographics as part of their stories. For PR practioners who can provide engaging digital material, this opens up a whole realm of possibility.

2. Outside in, not inside outIf you have more than 14 employees in an organisation, you develop a language of your own. There is a danger that when you try to speak to the outside world, this ‘inside’ language will creep ‘out’. Those of us specialising in PR must instead work on an ‘outside in’ basis, maintaining the langauge of someone who has been parachuted in. We must always be the outside voice going in, rather than an inside voice going out.

3. The reader is always rightQuestion: What are the most important words in a newspaper office? Answer: ‘reader’, ‘audience’, ‘viewer’. Stories with no relevance to a publication’s readership will never float, no matter how well crafted. As PRs, our job is not only to understand the readers of a publication, but we’ve got to flip stories round to the reader perspective. Hype can’t be translated to a reader, so it’s our job to keep it out from the beginning.

4. Page 2Sure we’ve all heard of page three – but what about page two? Page two is the dead page, full of the boring need to knows that make the world go round – such as the weather report. As a PR professional, getting to know the papers and publications that make up the media landscape is essential. And since many of the papers have certain formulas and characteristics, it’s not as daunting a task as it sounds.

5. News is peopleKeeping the human interest keeps the story interesting. Even a non-human story may have a human element, and finding that element can make the difference for your story. So, take the time to consider how a story will affect people, bearing in mind the reader (who is always right), and ensure that your story is one of the 3 percent of news releases that gets used by the media. ​